Nonfics

Tomatometer-approved publication
Rating Title/Year Author
Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am (2019) Sophia Stewart The Pieces I Am's reverent and intimate tone works well for its mission: the canonization of a literary saint. EDIT
Posted Jun 19, 2019
Emanuel (2019) Valerie Ettenhofer Unrelenting, challenging, a must-see. It will break your heart so bad you don't know how it could possibly be put back together, and then like a miracle it will do just that. EDIT
Posted Jun 19, 2019
Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese (2019) Cole Henry When you take it for what it really is ... then it's an immediately rewarding experience helped along by some of the best-restored concert footage that exists of Dylan. EDIT
Posted Jun 13, 2019
Framing John DeLorean (2019) Kristen Reid When Framing John DeLorean shows us the real-life fallout rather than the Baldwin focused re-creations, it thrives. EDIT
Posted Jun 6, 2019
The Image You Missed (2018) Christina Smith An impressionistic exchange between two artists...the documentary's personal bent is what makes it that much more engaging and that much more moving. EDIT
Posted May 30, 2019
Free Trip to Egypt (2018) Jenna Benchetrit It drops the ball by hesitating to dig deeper into the performative liberalism and deep-rooted bigotry of its American participants.. EDIT
Posted May 30, 2019
() Cole Henry A testament to the colossal effort and toll that crafting such an impressive show can take on every part of the cast and crew. EDIT
Posted May 27, 2019
() Andrew Karpan The larger story tracks this decade's change in internet culture as it moves away from nerds festering around California college campuses and into the hands of the people. EDIT
Posted May 25, 2019
() Andrew Karpan Before the warming ocean turns Florida into an uninhabitable flood land, there is value in having a real idea of how some of them lived. EDIT
Posted May 25, 2019
Bauhaus Spirit (2018) Andrew Karpan Bolbrinker and Tielsch's dynamism creates the impression of an art movement that has never stopped moving. EDIT
Posted May 25, 2019
Echo in the Canyon (2018) Katherine Steinbach Watching this film, I smiled and giggled and tapped my toes a lot. These grizzled faces have weird and horny stories to tell. EDIT
Posted May 22, 2019
Weed the People (2018) Hayden Cornmell A wonderfully empathetic look at the ongoing medical marijuana debate. EDIT
Posted May 14, 2019
The Biggest Little Farm (2018) Dylan Brennan The film can be bumpy and overly commercial, but its ability to show us the potential of a dying piece of human-tampered land is ultimately a triumph. EDIT
Posted May 10, 2019
General Magic (2017) Christina Smith Can get a bit mired in the lionizing of Silicon Valley minds...[but] General Magic still comes to be a strong meditation on failure and professional legacy." EDIT
Posted May 8, 2019
Out Of State (1970) Jenna Benchetrit Out of State observes these men without judgment, and the film's empathetic portrayal is resonant. EDIT
Posted May 7, 2019
Meeting Gorbachev (2018) Cole Henry Meeting Gorbachev plays like a fireside chat between two world-weary figures whose major life experiences were formed and molded in a different, more chaotic era. EDIT
Posted May 3, 2019
Decade of Fire (2019) Christina Smith Well-researched, engaging, and due to the involvement of Irizarry, strikingly personal...a moving portrait of a community united against systemic oppression. EDIT
Posted May 2, 2019
Ask Dr. Ruth (2019) Katherine Steinbach This film carries so many intimate moments, they build and buttress a relationship that feels strong at the end. EDIT
Posted May 1, 2019
Knock Down the House (2019) Dylan Brennan Rachel Lears is breaking apart the boxes that female politicians have been crammed into for so long. It's refreshing and hopeful. EDIT
Posted Apr 30, 2019
Recorder: The Marion Stokes Project (2019) Andrew Karpan As a vaguely cohesive visual text, [Stokes'] life's strange work is not worthless....Recorder also doubles as a grimy mirror to the TV news era. EDIT
Posted Apr 29, 2019
Scary Stories (2019) Valerie Ettenhofer So jam-packed with passion for its subject that it's impossible to come away without an appreciation for the work and the generation of horror-loving kids it inspired. EDIT
Posted Apr 25, 2019
If the Dancer Dances (2018) Christina Smith While the film doesn't always give us access to its present-day subjects, it still offers valuable insight into issues of artistic preservation. EDIT
Posted Apr 25, 2019
Chasing Portraits (2018) Dylan Brennan With its compelling tale of a family's trauma and recovery, Elizabeth's story is captivating throughout every stage of her journey. EDIT
Posted Apr 24, 2019
() Valerie Ettenhofer This is the concert experience of a lifetime. EDIT
Posted Apr 19, 2019
Grass is Greener (2019) Kristen Reid Fab 5 Freddy is the perfect person to tell this story, and he does so effectively. EDIT
Posted Apr 18, 2019
Instant Dreams (2017) Dylan Brennan Instant Dreams spends almost the entire film hiding their interviews behind B-roll. Beautiful and flowery B-roll, but B-roll all the same. There are only so many times you can watch shots of Schneider soaking in her outdoor desert bathtub... EDIT
Posted Apr 18, 2019
Breaking Habits (2018) Meg Shields Compelling ... a joy to watch. EDIT
Posted Apr 15, 2019
Hail Satan? (2019) Katherine Steinbach Hail Satan? is quick and charming and thoughtful as it redefines adversaries both symbolic and real. EDIT
Posted Apr 15, 2019
Blowin' Up (2018) Dylan Brennan Especially for a social issue documentary, there are few accomplishments more vital than being able to place an audience in the subject's shoes, and it achieves this goal. EDIT
Posted Apr 12, 2019
Penguins (2019) Cole Henry Penguins beautifully captures an environment that may not be around in this form in the near future." EDIT
Posted Apr 11, 2019
Satan & Adam (2018) J.R. Kinnard An unassuming little gem that lures you in with the music and sends you away with a better understanding of what it means to be human. EDIT
Posted Apr 10, 2019
350 Days - Legends. Champions. Survivors (2018) Kieran Fisher We're still waiting for the wrestling doc that provides an all-encompassing exploration of the business, but 350 Days does cover some substantial ground. EDIT
Posted Apr 10, 2019
White Tide: The Legend of Culebra (2018) Brad Gullickson The Legend of Cocaine Island is a riot. There are no genuine characters. Everyone is pretending, and everyone is making it up as they go along. EDIT
Posted Mar 28, 2019
Screwball (2018) J.R. Kinnard Screwball feels like a farce spinning toward its chaotic conclusion, with the absurdist echoes of frenetic Scorsese thrillers adding a delicious layer of paranoia. EDIT
Posted Mar 28, 2019
The Brink (2019) Katherine Steinbach A dynamic portrait of large and small scale self-destruction. Mapping one man's ambivalence onto a national and global crisis is quite an achievement. EDIT
Posted Mar 27, 2019
Tigerland (2019) Cole Henry The film comes to feel so insular yet so immensely important and at times even delves into thriller territory. EDIT
Posted Mar 26, 2019
The Eyes of Orson Welles (2018) Cole Henry A documentary rife with high highs and low lows - one could almost imagine Welles critiquing it in his own F for Fake. EDIT
Posted Mar 22, 2019
Buddy (2019) Dylan Brennan Honigmann doesn't want the audience to be a "fly on the wall," so instead she immerses us in the day-to-day realities of living with a disability. EDIT
Posted Mar 21, 2019
Mommy Dead and Dearest (2017) Dylan Brennan A remarkable retelling that hands its story over to the victims. EDIT
Posted Mar 21, 2019
Combat Obscura (2018) Cole Henry It shows that war is never, ever kind. There is no victory in most victories, and defeat is always near. Yet, the film finds the time to show how humanity can bloom on the battlefield, or maybe it was always there and we've just never had it shown to us. EDIT
Posted Mar 21, 2019
Roll Red Roll (2018) Katherine Steinbach For its examination of the crime and the language surrounding it, and for illuminating an entire town's truly ingrained misogyny, it is unforgettable. EDIT
Posted Mar 19, 2019
They Shall Not Grow Old (2018) Christopher Campbell Even without the 3D format, it really seems to bring those soldiers and the war alive and into the theater. EDIT
Posted Mar 15, 2019
Social Animals (2018) Valerie Ettenhofer While spotlighting the Instagram journeys of three fascinating young people, this documentary fails to ask the most important questions. EDIT
Posted Mar 15, 2019
The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley (2019) Katherine Steinbach This visually enticing, quirky, funny, and thought-provoking film offers complex and thrilling exposition, but it also poses big and abstract questions. EDIT
Posted Mar 15, 2019
Life After Flash (2017) Brad Gullickson An excitable, aggressive hug of a movie. Overflowing with appreciation, or downright passion, for the exuberant adaptation of the comic book serial." EDIT
Posted Mar 10, 2019
Anthropocene: The Human Epoch (2018) Luke Hicks Astonishment. Pure, lurid, ravishing, genuine astonishment. That is Anthropocene: The Human Epoch. EDIT
Posted Mar 3, 2019
Free Solo (2018) Luke Hicks There's something about a balls-to-the-wall movie that threatens imminent death being relatable on an exaggerated socio-political level in 2019. EDIT
Posted Mar 3, 2019
Wrestle (2018) Kieran Fisher Sometimes hopeful, other times heartbreaking, Wrestle is an honest portrait of disadvantaged American youth that will inspire empathy and leave viewers with lots to ponder. EDIT
Posted Feb 21, 2019
2019 Oscar Nominated Shorts - Documentary (2019) Christopher Campbell All worth watching, whether together or separately. EDIT
Posted Feb 11, 2019
Moonlight Sonata: Deafness in Three Movements (2019) Brad Gullickson A great work of love. EDIT
Posted Feb 9, 2019